News, trends and analysis
Trust In My K ey Entrust Technologies, having cut the Northern Telecom apron strings (though Nortel still holds a majority stake in the spin-off), is aggressively pushing its public-key infrastructure software into the mainstream. As of late last month, Entrust's encryption algorithm, CAST, is available free. Entrust says it hopes CAST will supplant the aging Digital Encryption Standard (DES) algorithm. CAST also will compete with the feds' controversial Clipper encryption technology, says Brian O'Higgins, executive vice president and chief technology officer at Entrust. O'Higgins says CAST is four to five times as fast as DES because it's optimized for high-speed software. One of the first implementations of CAST outs ide the Entrust product: Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) secure mail technology, which now can encrypt e-mail messages and their attachments using the algorithm. Entrust also offers a file-encryption utility, called the Integrated Crypto Engine (ICE), for Microsoft Windows95 and NT that lets you encrypt a file with a click of the mouse, as long as Entrust is running in the corporate network. Look for the spin-off to begin offering tools that make applications Entrust-ready out of the box, O'Higgins says. Still, running Entrust in a corporate network is like wielding a hammer to kill a cockroach, says Michael Rothman, a vice president of the META Group. Not many businesses need--or understand--the crypto-key concept, he says. Time For The Gig? You may not see much in the way of Gigabit Ethernet implementation this year, but the way is being paved for it. Not only is the IEEE 802.3z standard nearing completion, with final balloting expected next year, but members of the vendor-bac ked Gigabit Ethernet Alliance will demonstrate the technology at the alliance's booth at NetWorld+Interop in Las Vegas in May, according to alliance member Bob Grow, vice president of industry relations for XLNT Design and an IEEE Gigabit Ethernet c ommittee chairman. The Dell'Oro Group, which surveyed users and value-added resellers about Gigabit Ethernet, projects about $1.3 billion in revenue for the 1-Kbps Ethernet by the year 2000--even though many users say they see no need for more than 100 Mbps anytime soon. The key to pumping up the Ethernet volume lies in voice and video applications, according to Dell'Oro. The question remains whether ATM LAN Emulation (LANE) will make inroads on Ethernet.
	StatShots Why Do You Do It? Why do you tolerate the pager vibrating on your dresser at 3 a.m.? Why do you put up with a dinner of cold p izza in the server room three nights a week? It's the challenge of the work itself, according to Network Computing's Network/IS Managers Job Satisfaction and Salary Survey. Intellectual challenge and exposure to new technologies--more than cash, fame or job security--motivates those in IS. For more on what makes network managers tick, see Network Computing Online at www.NetworkComputing.com.

Context Morphing TCP Technology For Space Travel by Christy Hudgins-Bonafield Internet Online products, resources and tips by Christy Hudgins-Bonafield Updated February 7, 1997